St. Edward Acquires Cancer Detection Device
by March 18, 2002 12:00 am 81 views
St. Edward Mercy Medical Center in Fort Smith spent $250,000 in February for a new R2 Technology ImageChecker computer-aided detection (CAD) machine. It is the only hospital in western Arkansas that has the technology.
ImageChecker enables radiologists and oncologists to increase early breast cancer detection rates by as much as 20.5 percent, the hospital said in a press release.
“This will allow us to pick up an additional 20 to 30 percent of breast cancers, many in the very earliest screening stage,” said Dr. Leo Drolshagen, a radiologist on the medical staff at St. Edward.
The ImageChecker digitizes normal mammogram film so that the physician can compare it to another version on-screen. The computer identifies potential problem areas that can’t be seen with the naked eye, thereby enhancing the radiologist’s effectiveness.
The radiologist is still making the call, St. Edward spokesman Chip Paris said, but he’s making it with the best tools available. ImageChecker is the only Federal Drug Administration-approved computer-aided detection system on the market.
More than 182,800 women in the United States are expected to be diagnosed with invasive breast cancer during 2002, according to the release.